This invention relates to weather strips of automobiles, and more particularly to the structure of door weather strips which are arranged around the side parting portions and the upper end portion of a center pillar section in an automobile.
A four-door type automobile, as shown in FIG. 4, has a center pillar section CP between a front door FR and a rear door RR on each side thereof. For those doors FR and RR, sealing means are arranged around the side parting portions and the upper end portion of the center pillar section CP, as indicated in the circle A; more specifically door weather strips as shown in FIG. 5 are arranged along the center pillar section CP and the door frame 2.
FIG. 5 is a perspective view, with parts cut away, showing a horizontal door weather strip 3 for a front door, and a horizontal/vertical door weather strip 7 for a rear door.
The front door horizontal weather strip 3 is substantially G-shaped in cross-section. More specifically, the weather strip 3 comprises: a horizontal channel member 4 which has a longitudinal slit 6 (having a gap B) in the bottom wall into which a door sash is inserted; and a horizontal lip 5 which is extended longitudinally on the top wall of the channel member 4. One end portion of the horizontal lip 5 is extended towards the end face of a horizontal channel member 8 (described later) of the horizontal/vertical door weather strip 7, and is curved towards the inside of the automobile, thus forming a curved portion 5a.
The rear door horizontal/vertical weather strip 7 is substantially G-shaped in cross-section. More specifically, the weather strip 7 comprises: a horizontal channel member 8 which has a longitudinal slit 6 (having a gap B) in the bottom wall thereof into which a door sash is inserted; and a horizontal lip 9 which is extended longitudinally on the top wall of the channel member 8. One end portion of the horizontal lip 9 is extended towards the horizontal lip 5, and curved towards the inside of the automobile, thus forming a curved portion 9a which meets the curved end portion of the horizontal lip 5. The weather strip 7 further comprises: a hollow vertical lip 10 which is extended upwardly and has an upper end face 10a which supports one end portion of the horizontal lip 9. The hollow vertical lip 10 is coupled through a vertical lip 11, which is substantially L-shaped in section, to the horizontal channel member 8.
In the weather strips 3 and 7 thus formed, the end faces of the horizontal channel members 4 and 8 which are confronted with each other are so defined as to have an opening span D which is opened towards the inside of the automobile, having a width and an angle which are suitable for the center pillar section CP.
As was described above, in the door weather strips 3 and 7 fixed the center pillar section CP, the horizontal lip curved portions 5a and 9a are curved in the opposite directions and are held in sealing contact with each other. However, the horizontal lip curved portion 9a of the rear door RR suffers from the following difficulties: As the rear door RR is opened and closed, the curved portion 9a, depending on the length thereof, flexural rigidity, and curvature, is caught by the horizontal lip curved portion 5a, and may be curled outside of the automobile, thus adversely affecting the air-tightness and water-tightness of the weather strip.
On the other hand, the horizontal lip curved portion 5a may be prevented from being curled outside of the automobile by suitably determining the length, flexural rigidity and curvature. However, it should be noted that, in the prior art, the sealing is obtained by laying the flat-belt-shaped horizontal lips 5 and 9 over each other; that is, the sealing is effected in a single plane. That is, no back-up means is available when the sealing is made unsatisfactory. Hence, the conventional door weather strips cannot cope with an unexpected lessening of the sealing effect.